One little mistake
by Crazypreacher
Summary: Gill makes a mistake. This fic was born from someone's Wild Mass Guessing on TVTropes, to which I replied with my own suggestion and said that it would make for an interesting fanfiction. Someone else said they would like to read it, so here it is. Warning: death. Lots and lots of it. Also, a few slightly graphic moments and an implied suicide. This fic is overall very depressing.
1. Chapter 1

The recent successful escape of Sharkbait had significantly pumped up the spirits of the Tank Gang. Before there still had been doubts about whether they can even pull it off, but now they had seen with their own very eyes that it is possible. And so today was the second day of yet another tank pollution already. The green scurf had already begun to settle on every surface, and there was an unusual air of intensity and anticipation all around, even though everybody was going about their normal business, - Deb was swimming along the glass walls trying to find her "sister", Bubbles was spinning around his bubble box, Peach was hanging on the glass and watching the dentist, Bloat was peacefully floating around and relaxing in the light of a tank lamp, Gurgle was swimming in circles and whining, because he believed he needed to never stop moving or else he will become green, too, Jacques was trimming himself, for lack of another target, and Gill was supervising everyone and everything and generally looking important.

As he swam by Peach, she pried herself from the glass and asked:

"How long is it gonna be till the dentist gets us out, again?"

"He would normally do it 2 days after the start of the pollution, somewhere around noon, so do your math".

"Twelve hours, then. So soon already".

"You're ready?"

"As ready as ever", she smiled, and then added, "But you know, Jacques told me that Gurgle told him…"

"What?"

"He's afraid of microbes, he said. In the ocean".

"Well, if he thinks it's so important, why hasn't he told me?"

Peach hesitated. She and Jacques had asked him the same question, and he told: "Like that stuck-up snout would ever listen to me. He thinks he's the smartest, well, he'll remember me one day, I tell y'all!" For some reason, she and Jacques didn't feel like reassuring him.

Not that Gill needed to know all that.

"Well, Gill, you know how he is. Always bubbling about some stuff and panicking just in order to panic. That was probably nothing".

"Well, then tell Jacques to tell him that we are the fish, and our place is in the ocean. Now, if you put is on the beach, we would die. But what bad can the ocean do to us?"

"I suppose". She stuck to the glass again. Gill looked through the barely transparent wall, but his mind was occupied with things other than the dentist. He was startled when Peach pried herself from the glass again and asked him in a soft voice:

"Gill… you're from the ocean, right?"

"Yeah".

"How old were you when they got you?"

"Pretty old. Of an age when one's supposed to be looking for a couple, actually". A short silence. "That must've been real awful for you".

"It was".

"I see now why you're like this… so eager to get out. Now, when you're born in a tank like us, it's another story. Sometimes I think how I will live when there's no one to feed me or turn on the lamp for me".

"Well, it's _possible_ to _maybe_ have a hard life in the ocean. But if we stay here, we will _certainly_ be given to Darla".

"Yeah, I guess so. You know better anyway. Just, Gill… Don't make anything rash, okay?"

"Do I ever?"

"Like, please. That one time with a file almost cost you an eye, for Moby-Dick's sake! We only have one of you, and it looks like you're stuck as our leader – literally by the right of birth".

"Don't worry, Peach. Everything's gonna be-"

_Please, not that pun again, please, not that pun again… _Peach thought, annoyed.

"-peachy".

With a groan, Peach sticks to the glass.


	2. Chapter 2

When the excitement of the escape finally calmed down a bit, Bloat asked:

"So. Where to, now?" The question was addressed to Gill, who was so caught up with the happiness, the feeling of freedom and all the richness and the beauty all around him, didn't even hear it the first time around.

"Hey, Gill!"

"Oh?" He turned. "Oh, well, I suppose, to the east of the-"

"Where's Flo?!" Deb's screams made the water shake. She was flouncing back and forth, screaming all the time, and her body's movements were creating a play of light and shadows on the sand, which made Bubbles scream "Bubbles! Bubbles!" and throw himself to the dancing sunbeams. With the help of Jacques' whiskers, it was possible to finally hold her in place. Because she was thrashing around no more, the sunbeams had also stopped dancing and Bubbles calmed down.

Gill explained to her that Flo had went to the Coral Reef before them in the Nigel's beak and that in order to meet her, she needed to get there first. That didn't seem to convince her very much, but at least she stopped screaming.

Gill said then:

"I suppose, we go to the east of the Coral Reef. That's the only direction I really know. My parents, siblings and I, we lived in a little cave there, so I guess, it's my home".

They started their journey, and right away it turned out to be much less fun than Gill had expected. He was pretty old, his fin was injured and it was difficult to get used to the ocean's currents again, but even so, he was swimming much quicker than everybody else. Jacques and Peach moved across the sand dunes with difficulty, too, because they constantly had to go up- and downhill, unlike in the tank, where the floor was strictly horizontal. Gill tried to cheer them up with pointing out the beautiful seaweed or corals, but all he had got was silence. The gang was clearly afraid of the sheer magnitude of the ocean, and their silent fear had finally culminated in Deb's breakdown.

She was muttering angrily to herself at first, then she fell silent for a long time, and then, after the journey had already tired everybody up, even though they hadn't covered a large distance, she just broke down crying loudly.

"I… I… I'm afraid! The ocean's gonna crush me! I don't wanna be here anymooooore…" she was wailing, and it was impossible to get anything else from her.

Then Gill understood it was time to stop. They had quickly found a lovely oasis of seaweed and stones, and made it their camp for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

After a sleepover and a breakfast they continued their way. Gill had hoped that after a long rest the Gang would recover and cheer up, but if anything, it seemed that the rest has taken their last strength. The former tank dwellers were going twice as slow as yesterday, so Gill, who was, on the contrary, swimming faster and faster, constantly had to stop and wait for them. Worst of all, Gurgle and Bloat started showing some weird behavior. They breathed heavily and constantly went off the path, like they were looking for something, but couldn't remember what they were looking for, or sleepwalking. Finally Gill had to stop the Gang and lecture them on the importance of sticking together. He reminded that they had to stay on the path, because otherwise they would get lost and end up in someone's stomach.

By all accounts, the lecture should have spoken to the friends, who were newcomers to the ocean, but they seemed as sullen and angry as before.

"It's hard to keep up with you", Gurgle finally spoke, "and I'm having trouble to breathe. I could swear I have contacted asthma or worse!"

"Me too", said Bloat.

"Okay, we shall go ever slower", said Gill. _Yes, even _slower_. Damn. Well, getting home would have to wait. Not that it's their fault that they can't swim against the tides._

"You don't understand", Gurgle shouted, "it's not because I can't swim. It's because it's hard to breathe, like something is sitting in my lungs!" The other fish started to grumble among themselves with obvious concern.

"Silence!" ordered Gill. "Gurgle, you're only spreading panic. Of course, it's because you all aren't accustomed to the ocean. Why else would it happen? Now calm down, everyone. Let's continue our way nice and slow, so that no one would get left behind".

They trailed forward again. The next few hours passed without any particular events, but the Gang was definitely unhappy. Gill started to grow annoyed and impatient. Weren't they so eager to get out, after all?

After a while of this snail pace Gill noticed, that the fish started to swim by more often than before. His heart jumped with joy, because it meant that they were getting a little closer to the reef. He also noticed, however, that the fish were giving their company funny looks. He felt angry. _What are they looking at, anyway? What, have never seen a crowd of aquarium refugees before?_

A prim-looking damselfish with a handful of her children dashed aside from them. He heard her whispering something, and it seemed to him that he caught the word "lepers".

Gill suddenly got a sinking feeling in his stomach. He looked back on his gang and saw that Gurgle and Bloat were staggering in the end of the group. He stopped the Gang and swam closer to examine them. Indeed, the lady was right. Their eyes had swelled with blood, Gurgle's scales had stood up in some places, and there was a reddish ulcer on Bloat's body.

Other fish had only just noticed that their friends had been staying behind. When they had taken a good look at their companions, Peach and Jacques gasped with horror, and Deb started wailing again, but louder.

"We have to find a place to stay", shouted Gill, trying to overcome the noise of his horrified Gang. "I can see a cave not fat from here".

With great difficulty they got Bloat and Gurgle to the cave. It was pretty dark, slimy and confined, but there wasn't any other staying place far away from other's eyes. The two sick fish could barely speak or move; normally Gurgle would already be screaming his lungs out, but now he just lowered himself on the ground next to Bloat.

Gill ordered everyone to stay in place and went out to look for some sort of help.


	4. Chapter 4

The cave was far from the path that led to the reef, so before meeting someone one had to swim quite a long way. As Gill left the cave, he remembered a similar day from his childhood: his father got badly scratched in a fight, and he had to call his neighbors to help them stop the bleeding. Back then, when swimming around his neighborhood, he could look around and find no less than ten sea creatures that he knew by name. And even if he didn't know the name of one particular someone, they probably were a nephew, or a friend, or a friend of a friend of someone he did know by name. And these ties of friends and relatives spread over the entire reef and beyond. Now, though, as he swam to the place where fish normally gathered, he didn't know anyone by name. And no one would probably know what he means, if he said: "You know Agatha? The old grumpy angelfish, lives to the east of the Great Barrier Reef?"

He swam to the nearest and most harmless-looking group of fish – those were cardinalfish. They stopped chatting and looked at him as he approached.

"My friends are sick. Do you know what can be done, when-"

"Sick? What is this, another plague? Like we didn't have enough problems already!" said one of them. "Yeah, get away from here, we don't want to contact anything", said the other.

"I'm not sick". "Well, then you will be! They're your friends, that's how it always goes when there's a sickness". They swan away, looking back to make sure he wasn't following them.

Other fish nearby started to look at him suspiciously. He looked around and saw a mandarinfish. He looked rather relaxed and was humming some melody to himself.

"Excuse me", Gill decided to be a little roundabout this time, "do you know where I can find a healer or someone like that?"

"Around here? Dunno. I'm afraid the only fish with some education live on the Great Reef, what with Doctor Stingray's school and all. I was going there myself, to borrow some… ahem… seaweed from him. Why? Is it about your fin?"

"Um… yes".

"Well, I hope it's not too bad, then, because the road is long".

"I know. Thanks".

There was no way they would make it. Gurgle and Bloat could barely swim. But he couldn't just leave them without help. Maybe, he would be able to bring the healer to them? He could swim fast enough. Gill headed back to the cave to inform his friends of this decision.

As he entered the cave, he thought at first that they have left because of the silence. But when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw what he was most afraid to see. Gurgle and Bloat were lying on the ground motionless. Their bellies were swollen and their eyes were about twice their normal size and covered with a whitish film. Peach was lying beside Bloat and sobbing, Jacques was standing over Gurgle and shaking his head in sorrow, and Deb was in the corner, looking in front of herself without any expression.

Gill froze, unable to believe what had happened. Before he could form any thought, a scream shook the water: "Youuuuuuuu!..." A little stone flew from the shade of one of the corners and hit the cave's wall near the Gill's left fin. Bubbles flew out of the shadow next. He was yelling: "You! It's all because of you!"

"Bubbles, stop!" Again, Jacques's whiskers came to the rescue. He held Bubbles tight and shouted: "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Shut up, all of you!" shouted Peach through her tears. "Who knows what sort of predators lurk around here?"

"You!" Bubbles kept screaming. He hit Jacques with his tail on the face. The strike was unexpectedly strong, and Jacques let go of him. Gill collected himself and launched himself at Bubbles.

"Don't touch meee!..." Bubbles yelled and flung out of the cave's small entrance. Suddenly, all went silent. The fish waited a little, and then Gill and Peach looked very carefully out of the cave. There was no one around, only a large frogfish was swimming away from the cave.

Peach fell back on the ground and cried aloud. She, who was always so brave, strong and reasonable, was now broken. Gill didn't know what to tell her and just lowered himself on the ground beside her. Jacques proceeded to cover their friends' bodies with scarce seaweed and Deb kept staying in her corner with her eyes fixed on some invisible point before her.


	5. Chapter 5

They continued their journey. Gill now didn't care how slow they were moving; time and distance lost their meaning to him. He'd always hoped that his parents were still alive, even though it was hardly possible, and that his brothers and sisters would meet him in the same place that was once his home. But what would he tell them now?

"I was captured and put in a tank, but we escaped".

"We?"

"Yes, there were others".

"Well, where are they?"…

Gill used to think of the tank as a prison. But the thing was, now that he looked back at it, he understood it never really felt like that. In the tank, they all were together, they all worked together to get by day after day and plan their escape. There may have been a danger, but they always were ready to group and protect themselves. Now in the rich vastness of the ocean they four trailed side by side in fear and apathy, as if they were completely unfamiliar creatures driven together by an outside force.

These dark thoughts were occupying Gill so much that, as they once were camping by the road, he didn't even hear Peach addressing him at first time.

"Sorry, what?"

"We need to talk, Gill. Just… make sure Jacques and Deb don't hear us". Gill looked up. The two creatures mentioned were staying apart from the group and each other. They seemed to be completely withdrawn. "I'm sure they won't".

"Did you notice I… well… wasn't so fast lately?"

"Of course, but it's none of your fault. It's pretty rocky down here, unlike it was there. We are not in hurry, anyway".

"No, I mean, the last few days. I was even slower".

"Um… sure. What's wrong?"

"Well, it seems that there's two of us now", Peach smiled grimly. "Look…" She showed him the backside of one of her arms. It was blackened, as if it was rotting, and a small white worm-looking thing was seen to be squirming inside it. Gill froze with pity, horror and disgust.

"Listen, Peach, we should…"

"No, you listen. I won't be able to go with you any further, and you won't accomplish anything by dragging me to the doctor, because I won't last that long. I'll only be a burden for you. But you still can get Deb and Jacques to the reef before they have contacted anything".

"What are you talking about? I can't…"

"Yes. Yes, you can! Just leave me here. Tell them that I have liked it here and want to stay here".

"You're my friend. I… I can't".

"Don't be stupid! What, if you grow sick before getting to the reef? How noble of you would it be to leave them both without a guide?"

He understood that she was right. There wasn't another choice.

He waited a little in silence to collect himself and make sure he wouldn't break down in from of Jacques and Deb. Then he called them and Peach told them her lie, smiling. She, Jacques and Gill said goodbyes. Jacques was very grim lately, and as he parted with his friend, he didn't show any emotion. Gill had to ask himself how much of this he Jacques actually believed. Deb didn't say anything, as it was since they left that cave.

_I can't believe what I have done._

As they continued their journey, Gill kept wondering where Peach was, when he turned back to count his party, or thinking what she would say, if they decided to go the other way. And only when he thought about this, he remembered that she wasn't with them anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

It is natural for all the living creatures to be concerned about their own lives and the possibility of dying, but when Gill was thinking about a possibility of being infected, it was never with fear, but rather with some sort of dull, mindless resolve. One should think, most animals don't really see their own death as a possibility, until it is too late. What Gill was really scared about was the possibility of those other two creatures in his charge dying.

As they approached a fork of the road, indicated by a large cliff, Gill understood that their journey was almost done. He knew this place, because he always used to be warned about it. To the left of the cliff was a lively path that led to the reef, but to the right of it was an empty road that led to what used to be called Shark's Bay.

Gill and his companions decided to stay for the night under the cliff, by the side of the busy path.

* * *

Gill woke up in the morning and understood that Jacques had woken up earlier. He opened his weary eyes, and as he looked at the shrimp and Deb, he felt the strangest sense of relief – that kind when the worst that could happen already had and you have nothing to fear anymore.

Deb had the same symptoms as Bloat and Gurgle – bloody eyes, swollen stomach, ulcer. She was barely breathing and couldn't move. Jacques's shell was covered with large whitish morbilli.

Gill slowly raised and approached the shrimp.

"You both have fallen ill, too".

"As you see, dear friend. _Très regrettable_. What were you saying about the distance, again?"

"There's about a quarter mile from here to the reef".

"Deb doesn't really seem to be capable of covering such a long distance. I don't really see you and me carrying her all this way, too".

"You don't look all too lively, either".

"_Je ce confesse, _dear friend. I have a great difficulty even standing here as I'm talking to you".

"Well, than I don't really see any way out. I guess I'll just stay here with you two and wait".

A short silence. "That would be most noble of you, my friend".

And Gill stayed with them and waited.

Gill and Jacques were sitting side by side, next to dying Deb. Gill was staring into the distance and Jacques was weaving a quilt out of the red seaweed that was growing nearby.

"What's it for?" Gill asked.

"For myself. It is important to look presentable even _avec la mort en face, _you see".

"I envy your spirit. If you have time, make one for me, please".

"Oh, you needn't worry. You shall not die, my friend".

"How are you so sure? Everyone else have".

"As it stands, _le _Gurgle _dèfunt _and I have actually talked this over once. He maintained, that, say, were a salmon who grew up in a river to be placed into the ocean, he would die, as well as a tank fish who was subjected to the same course of action, for it is a matter of environment where the young fish was born that decides on his or her state of health. I used to dismiss this theory, but now that poor Deb, who is significantly younger and – _pardon pour la vèritè, cher ami –_healthier than you, have fallen ill and you haven't, I see its credibility".

* * *

When Gill woke up the next morning, everything had already passed. Jacques and Deb were lying cold and motionless under their decorative quilts – Jacques had time to make one for her, as well.


	7. Chapter 7

As Gill finally approached the cave that was once his home, his heart fell even lower than he thought was possible. As he had thought, the place had completely changed. He didn't recognize anyone, and no one recognized him.

He approached the cave entrance and hesitated. Before he decided what to do next, a female snapper swam outside. She looked rather displeased.

"Who are you, mister? And how can I be of service?"

"Sorry for the trouble, ma'am. I'm looking for the family that has lived here before you".

"Well, I don't remember any _family_, that's for sure. When my husband and I were looking for a place to settle, we were swimming by and that old lady offered us her home. There wasn't anyone here except her. I recall, though, she was a Moorish Idol, like you. Was she a relation?"

"She must have been. Do you remember her name?"

"She didn't mention it. But I remember her eyes, oh yes. They were black, like they normally are with the fish of your kind, but they had this shade of violet. Very unusual, that's why I remember it".

"My mother".

"Oh… I'm sorry. When we asked her why she didn't want such a lovely home for herself anymore, she said that she was migrating someplace else. She didn't say, to where, and I have to say, she was a little gloomy in general. We didn't talk much. We were surprised that such an old lady lives without children and is going to migrate, though".

"Was it a long time ago?"

"Oh, yes. We've had three litters of kids since then already, the elder are going to finish school in two years".

"Sorry for the trouble. Goodbye".

So it was, then. Now Gill was completely free. Nothing was hindering him from going wherever and however fast he pleased, except for his conscience and the lack of purpose.

He swam away without any particular direction, barely aware of the fact that he actually moved. He must have been swimming for a very long time before he finally stopped with exhaustion and found himself at the same fork in the road between the coral reef and the dreaded Bay.

He hesitated for God knows how much time, deep in thought, before turning and taking the route leading to the Shark's Bay.


End file.
